Yesterday, I went to visit my friend Suzy in hospital. Just before Christmas she had the misfortune to be knocked off her motorbike by a driver who did not see her coming and opened his car door as she passed, sending her flying. Result, a grazed face, a badly broken right elbow and a smashed-up left foot as the full weight of the bike fell on it. Talking about her bad luck and how these things take place in a split second, she said, half-jokingly:

‘It must be the malocchio (evil eye) because, since I moved into my new office six months ago, two of my employees have broken bones and now I’ve finished up like this!’.

I began thinking about it. Was this only foolish superstition or what if there was some truth in it? Can you even provoke disaster by simply thinking that some kind of curse on you or a building or a thing is true? Whatever should she do to remedy the situation - real or imagined -  to make sure that any of the rest of her staff do not finish up in plaster?

The popular tradition is for Italians to resort to amulets to protect themselves from any evil spirits that may be lurking around. The most popular and strongest is, of course, the red cornetto or corno (horn), a very ancient talisman to encourage fertility and, therefore, good luck. In fact, it is not an unusual gift, made in gold or coral, to give to newborn babies and many drivers, especially in Southern Italy, have one appended to their car keys.

But what if wearing a horn around their necks or having them scattered about the office is not enough to protect Suzy and her personnel? In that case, there is only one solution - exorcism. To my surprise, I discovered that more than 180 exorcists in Italy  belong to the Association of Italian Exorcists which was founded in 1990 by a Roman priest and exorcist, Don Gabriele Amorth. Furthermore, since 2004, the Ateneo Pontificio Regina Apostolorum, the Vatican University,  in Rome has also held annual theoretical and practical courses on exorcism for priests. So help is certainly at hand for Suzy.

In the meantime, I’ll just give my horn a tiny rub and keep my fingers crossed.

Happy New Year…

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